Posted: Wed 8th Oct 2014

Flintshire County Council: 3.4% slashed from next years budget

News and Info from Deeside, Flintshire, North Wales
This article is old - Published: Wednesday, Oct 8th, 2014

Flintshire County Council have had a -3.4% cut in next years funding.

Council bosses had feared a cut up to 4.5% in its Revenue Support Grant from the Welsh Government.

The cut represents a decrease from £193 million of revenue support this year to £186 million in 2015 a reduction of nearly £7 million according to the Welsh Governments figures (below)

Update: 

Severe cuts to services and jobs are forecast today by Flintshire County Council following the Welsh Government provisional budget settlement for the County.

The Council has been preparing for between 1.5 per cent and 4.5 per cent cuts in its funding from Welsh Government for next year. Today’s announcement points towards a 3.4 per cent cut which means the Council will need to find massive savings of £16.4 million to meet the budget gap.

Council Leader Aaron Shotton said:

“This is a bleak day for local government in Wales and our worst fears have materialised. We knew big, difficult choices would have to be made and now we know the extent of the swingeing cuts ahead of us.

“Over the past four years we will already have achieved £33m worth of savings by reducing management and operating costs and we will continue to look for further efficiencies in these areas. Local government has proved to be one of the most innovative and efficient forms of public service in Wales but there comes a tipping point whereby the sustainability of our services comes into question. We will have to prioritise some services over others, reduce or even stop services. All our services are under scrutiny including education, social services, leisure services, libraries and waste collections.

“In August we set the scene with our Big Budget Conversation when we asked the public for their views on how local council services could be protected and whether or not there was support for the choices that will need to be made over the coming months. We thank people for getting involved and for their suggestions which we will also consider. Nearly 700 people took part and a summary report of the Conversation outcomes has been published on the Council’s web site this week.

“The current system for funding local councils is broken. It is high time for all those involved in public policy in Wales to address this, and I support the WLGA’s call for the establishment of an Independent Commission on Local Government Finance to examine the sustainability of council funding into the future.”

Announcing how much each Council will receive in Revenue Support Grant, Public Services Minister, Leighton Andrews said the total funding of £4.124 billion represents a decrease of 3.4% on what they received last year on a like for like basis.

Mr Andrews said;

“The settlement I am announcing today is challenging but this is a consequence of the large scale budget reductions being imposed by the UK Government. The Welsh Government’s budget for 2015-16 will be around 10% lower in real terms compared with 2010-11.

“However, unlike England, we have protected Local Authorities in Wales from the bulk of these cuts over the past five years. Spending on local services in England has decreased by around 7% in cash terms, while in Wales it has increased by 3%”

How all if Wales local councils have fared;

Screenshot from 2014-10-08 17:14:25

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